A stone marten in Germany has been infected with the H5N1 bird flu virus in what is believed to be the first case of this species being infected in the wild. A member of the weasel family, the stone marten was found alive on the Baltic Sea island of Ruegen near where three dead cats were found which all tested positive for the dangerous form of the H5N1 virus.
It was put down to allow tests to be carried out.
Ruegen was the site of the first outbreak of H5N1 in Germany when wild birds were found to have the highly pathogenic form of the virus last month.
The Friedrich Loeffler Institute, Germany's national veterinary laboratory, said while it was known that ferrets had been infected with H5N1 in laboratory tests, this was the first known case of the species being infected in the wild.
The dead cats are believed to have contracted the disease from eating infected wild birds. Stone martens also eat birds.
At least 96 people have died from the most pathogenic form of H5N1 since 2003. Most of the deaths were in Asia.
The Friedrich Loeffler Institute said it was working on the assumption that the stone marten had the highly pathogenic form of H5N1.
The head of the Institute, Thomas Mettenleiter, said that although the case marked the spread of the virus to a new species, it did not mean that humans were at any greater risk of contracting it.
"While this find signals that another mammal species has been infected for the first time, the basic assessment of the epidemic situation has not changed," he told reporters.
